11-03-2006, 12:04 PM
So I did a little further research and it seems that the first production Intercoolers that came out had some faulty power connection pins and were causing some problems. Now, whether I have one of the recalled ones I have no clue, but I thought I'd give it a good session last night to see how it affected my XBOX. I looked on a ton of hardcore XBOX gamer sites and it looks like some of the most die-hard gamers swear by this thing, having used it for months at a time with extremely long game sessions (probably like I used to do back in the day) with no problems whatsoever.
The Microsoft Tech Rep told me, when I called to send my 360 back for the first time, that one power issue that a lot of people have been having is that they plug their 360 power supply into a surge protector. I did this of course on instinct, but apparently the power supply has a surge protector built in, and if you plug it into another surge protector it draws away way too much power. If this is a serious issue, I would think that Microsoft would make it MUCH more clear not to do this.
So last night I rented the new Marvel Capcom Heroes game and thought I'd give the Intercooler a workout to see if it brings me the dreaded "Red Rings of Death." I made sure that all of the power connections to the unit and to the 360 were very tight, as that's been a problem even with stock xbox units. I also propped the xbox up on a couple of Legos to give it airspace underneath for better cooling.
The first thing I noticed was that it was much louder (obviously). This doesn't really bother me because the unit is all the way across the room from where I play on my couch. Performance was excellent, loading was very fast, and most importantly, when I was done after about an hour and a half, I touched the 360 and that fucker was as cool as when I first turned it on! I was really surprised.
So we'll see how it holds up. It will be interesting to compare the PS3 to this thing in terms of problems like these. Hopefully Sony addressed these issues better than Microsoft did.
The Microsoft Tech Rep told me, when I called to send my 360 back for the first time, that one power issue that a lot of people have been having is that they plug their 360 power supply into a surge protector. I did this of course on instinct, but apparently the power supply has a surge protector built in, and if you plug it into another surge protector it draws away way too much power. If this is a serious issue, I would think that Microsoft would make it MUCH more clear not to do this.
So last night I rented the new Marvel Capcom Heroes game and thought I'd give the Intercooler a workout to see if it brings me the dreaded "Red Rings of Death." I made sure that all of the power connections to the unit and to the 360 were very tight, as that's been a problem even with stock xbox units. I also propped the xbox up on a couple of Legos to give it airspace underneath for better cooling.
The first thing I noticed was that it was much louder (obviously). This doesn't really bother me because the unit is all the way across the room from where I play on my couch. Performance was excellent, loading was very fast, and most importantly, when I was done after about an hour and a half, I touched the 360 and that fucker was as cool as when I first turned it on! I was really surprised.
So we'll see how it holds up. It will be interesting to compare the PS3 to this thing in terms of problems like these. Hopefully Sony addressed these issues better than Microsoft did.
Posting in the banalist of threads since 2004
2017 Mazda CX-5 GT AWD Premium
Past: 2016 GMC Canyon All Terrain Crew Cab / 2010 Jaguar XFR / 2012 Acura RDX AWD Tech / 2008 Cadillac CTS / 2007 Acura TL-S / 1966 5.0 HO Mustang Coupe
2001 Lexus IS300 / 2004 2.8L big turbo WRX STI / 2004 Subaru WRX / A couple of old trucks
2017 Mazda CX-5 GT AWD Premium
Past: 2016 GMC Canyon All Terrain Crew Cab / 2010 Jaguar XFR / 2012 Acura RDX AWD Tech / 2008 Cadillac CTS / 2007 Acura TL-S / 1966 5.0 HO Mustang Coupe
2001 Lexus IS300 / 2004 2.8L big turbo WRX STI / 2004 Subaru WRX / A couple of old trucks